Biden takes unconventional approach to first Trump debate
The Biden campaign is making an unconventional move one month ahead of the June 27 presidential debate in Atlanta, Georgia: raising expectations. In a strategy memo blasted to political reporters Friday, Biden campaign Chair Jen O'Malley Dillon blasted Donald Trump's tenure at the White House and promised that he won’t get off scot-free. "Joe Biden will hold Donald Trump accountable for all of it on the debate stage—and he’s raring to go," she wrote. This isn't your grandfather's debate strategy. Normally, incumbents’ campaign aides downplay debate expectations, setting a relatively low bar in hopes it will be easy to clear. And incumbent presidents have a history of dicey performances in the first debate of the cycle. In fact, Senate Republicans are currently fretting over Trump setting the bar too low for his opponent by saying things like Biden “can’t put two sentences together.” And to their point, the president clearly benefited from low expectations after he gave a spirited State of the Union Address earlier this year. But the Biden campaign isn't having it, and there's a very good reason for that: Their biggest hurdle to reaching voters right now is a lack of buzz. Biden is more than holding his own with high-information voters, but he’s struggling with low-information voters who aren't paying attention to the race. As Biden pollster Jefrey Pollock recently remarked, "You have to force your way into their lives ... force them to pay attention to politics." That’s exactly why Biden backed Trump into the corner of debating remarkably early, and it's why he’s now executing a debate strategy that flies in the face of conventional wisdom. O'Malley Dillon’s memo advanced a before-and-after-2020 narrative about Trump’s political evolution, revisiting his tumultuous policies of trying to "rip health care away from millions" and gift "tax breaks to billionaires on the backs of the middle class." "And when the country needed leadership amid a once-in-a-lifetime crisis," she wrote, "he tear gassed citizens and encouraged Americans to inject themselves with bleach to ward off COVID, while hundreds of thousands of Americans died as he mismanaged the pandemic." And that's just the before portion. "When Trump lost the 2020 election, he snapped," she continued. The aftermath of Trump's 2020 loss revisits familiar themes of his clinging to power, fomenting Jan. 6 violence, bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade, and echoing the words of dictators and Nazis. Along with the memo, the Biden campaign dropped a new ad called "Snapped," which tracks Trump's evolution from incompetence to desperation. YouTube Video With the Trump biography in place, the memo moves on to outlining the topics that Biden plans to emphasize during the debate, including reproductive freedom, democracy, and the contrast between the two candidates' economic visions moving forward. In short, the memo promises to remind voters "why they booted him out four years ago" and how much more radical a second Trump term would prove to be. "All the while, we should expect Team Trump to do what it does best: nothing," O’Malley Dillon stated. While the Biden campaign’s approach seems bullish, the bet is clearly that they are better off drawing attention, spurring conversation, and potentially falling short than they would be if they generated no conversation at all. After all, the stakes of the election are crystal clear. "Our fundamental rights and freedoms, our economic opportunities, and our health care are all on the line," the memo said. Biden plans to make that case to the American people on June 27, where Trump "can hear it for himself,” the memo concludes. “If he shows up.” Like many Republicans, Donald Trump has tried to sidestep the issue of abortion and reproductive rights. But he stumbled during an interview with a CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh this week, promising an “interesting” new policy that would let states restrict contraception.. Embedded Content Campaign Action
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The Biden campaign is making an unconventional move one month ahead of the June 27 presidential debate in Atlanta, Georgia: raising expectations.
In a strategy memo blasted to political reporters Friday, Biden campaign Chair Jen O'Malley Dillon blasted Donald Trump's tenure at the White House and promised that he won’t get off scot-free.
"Joe Biden will hold Donald Trump accountable for all of it on the debate stage—and he’s raring to go," she wrote.
This isn't your grandfather's debate strategy. Normally, incumbents’ campaign aides downplay debate expectations, setting a relatively low bar in hopes it will be easy to clear. And incumbent presidents have a history of dicey performances in the first debate of the cycle. In fact, Senate Republicans are currently fretting over Trump setting the bar too low for his opponent by saying things like Biden “can’t put two sentences together.” And to their point, the president clearly benefited from low expectations after he gave a spirited State of the Union Address earlier this year.
But the Biden campaign isn't having it, and there's a very good reason for that: Their biggest hurdle to reaching voters right now is a lack of buzz.
Biden is more than holding his own with high-information voters, but he’s struggling with low-information voters who aren't paying attention to the race.
As Biden pollster Jefrey Pollock recently remarked, "You have to force your way into their lives ... force them to pay attention to politics."
That’s exactly why Biden backed Trump into the corner of debating remarkably early, and it's why he’s now executing a debate strategy that flies in the face of conventional wisdom.
O'Malley Dillon’s memo advanced a before-and-after-2020 narrative about Trump’s political evolution, revisiting his tumultuous policies of trying to "rip health care away from millions" and gift "tax breaks to billionaires on the backs of the middle class."
"And when the country needed leadership amid a once-in-a-lifetime crisis," she wrote, "he tear gassed citizens and encouraged Americans to inject themselves with bleach to ward off COVID, while hundreds of thousands of Americans died as he mismanaged the pandemic."
And that's just the before portion.
"When Trump lost the 2020 election, he snapped," she continued.
The aftermath of Trump's 2020 loss revisits familiar themes of his clinging to power, fomenting Jan. 6 violence, bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade, and echoing the words of dictators and Nazis.
Along with the memo, the Biden campaign dropped a new ad called "Snapped," which tracks Trump's evolution from incompetence to desperation.
With the Trump biography in place, the memo moves on to outlining the topics that Biden plans to emphasize during the debate, including reproductive freedom, democracy, and the contrast between the two candidates' economic visions moving forward.
In short, the memo promises to remind voters "why they booted him out four years ago" and how much more radical a second Trump term would prove to be.
"All the while, we should expect Team Trump to do what it does best: nothing," O’Malley Dillon stated.
While the Biden campaign’s approach seems bullish, the bet is clearly that they are better off drawing attention, spurring conversation, and potentially falling short than they would be if they generated no conversation at all. After all, the stakes of the election are crystal clear.
"Our fundamental rights and freedoms, our economic opportunities, and our health care are all on the line," the memo said.
Biden plans to make that case to the American people on June 27, where Trump "can hear it for himself,” the memo concludes. “If he shows up.”
Like many Republicans, Donald Trump has tried to sidestep the issue of abortion and reproductive rights. But he stumbled during an interview with a CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh this week, promising an “interesting” new policy that would let states restrict contraception..
